Chapter 200 - Volume 2
Chapter 145 – Warm words of Hope (7)
“Is the little girl your daughter?” Brendel said to the middle-aged man.
“She is indeed Brynjar’s daughter, my lord, but I’ll be taking care of her. Her mother is my adopted daughter.” It was the Elder who replied: “He has volunteered to be your guide because he’s grateful that you brought her back.”
(TL: I searched for a while, but I’m not finding any medieval equivalent for “in-laws”. That term seems to be relatively new. So instead of Bro.-in-law X, it’s just Brother X. I’ll assume that a father/mother calls his son-in-law by name without any addressing term.)
He took a moment to stroke Sifrid’s head.
“I would gladly guide you through the Dark Forest myself but I hope my lord understands I have to lead the village, even though I’m more familiar with it…..”
The mercenaries were silent the entire time. The rumors about the Dark Forest were more several times worse than the bedtime stories used to frighten the children in Aouine to sleep.
“What of her mother?” Amandina asked with furrowed brows.
“We have no food for the harsh winter.” The Elder shook his head. They had not collected the food from their farms, and hiding the forest now would only mean they would starve and freeze to their deaths.
“Are we supposed to just send her to her death?”
“Your words aren’t right. The baron said he was taking her as a foster daughter right? Didn’t he say that if we bring her over there would be no need for us to hide in the forest and we can become real citizens…..”
A small voice in the crowd pierced through the room.
Everyone fell into complete silence. That was a lie which could not even deceive a child. A local lord will never look to the Senia citizens kindly, even if Sifrid had Elven blood in her. The nobles in Graudin’s land were twisted and immoral.
“Have you no shame? I cannot believe you are even capable of uttering these pathetic words. Why don’t you offer yourself and beg the Baron to fuck your arse?” The young man spat at the man who spoke earlier, the latter flushing red with shame.
“Elder, perhaps we should take up our weapons and fight these bastards off?” Another man said angrily.
The quarrels in the Longhouse became louder and louder and spilled out into the streets. Brendel was listening quietly on a boulder while he looked at the little girl squatting beside him. She was looking at the ants crawling on the ground peacefully, as though she did not hear the quarrels in the Longhouse……
“Sifrid,” The youth finally said: “You understand what our language, don’t you?”
She raised her head up with a surprised look.
“I’m….. Sorry.” She spoke in Brendel’s native tongue with difficulty.
“That’s fine,” Brendel shook his head. “I know that you needed to protect yourself during that time. It seems like you’re a smart little girl. You can call me Brother Brendel—”
The little girl’s smile was endearing. She paused for a moment.
“Brother….. Brendel, can I, take you to the forest, instead of my father? I too, know the forest. My mother, taught me.”
Brendel felt his heart melting, but he shook his head at the end.
“(Sifrid, even if you bring us to the forest and you are not in this village, that baron will still be here?)” This time the youth spoke in the Elven language.
(TL: Ooooooookay. I’m going to pretend that Elven is some generic French language. No wait, maybe I should poll you guys. Yah, I should do that huh. Check the end of the chapter later.)
Sifrid was taken aback for a moment and her face quickly fell.
“I’m sorry.” Brendel whispered.
The little girl bit her lips.
Suddenly, he heard crashes within the Longhouse with intensified yells.
TL: How does Sophie or the old Brendel knows the Elven language. I’m not going to chalk it up to ‘but its’s VR!’ BS without the author giving us proper exposition for this, but I’m leaving it to you guys. In order to have another ‘background check’ in the event of Brendel speaking a foreign language again…… Choose your poison guys.
Option 1: Languages in this alternate world follow Europe’s languages. Elven = French. Kirrlutz/Aouine/Whatever = English. Dragonspeak = Latin. LoL.
Option 2: It’s VR MAGICK! VR solves everything! VR makes people godliek! VR……
Option 3: Maybe it’s that game system somehow connecting to Mother Marsha/Gods/Goddesses hotline with quantum magick and automatically translates everything and makes Brendel a polyglot BAUS.
Edit: Okay, I know a lot of people are saying Klingon and Elven etc, and I’m sure that the creators have put in countless hours into it. However, I ultimately disagree that these languages can even compare to our languages that evolved for thousands of years. Just imagine how Shakespearean English is enough to beat us to the ground (never mind the amount of hair-pulling I have to think about Medieval-speak in this story).
It is why I’m so skeptical about VR solving everything. It belittles the languages and effort made in the real world. I’ll respect your decision in choosing VR if it comes down to it (and thereafter translating with your choice in mind if it wins), but I rather not have VR explaining every single reason why Brendel is good at what he does.